Clark and Lois - Hope Realized - Matchmaker Chronicle Volume 5 12/25
By Ken Janney
Rating PG-13
Disclaimers: The characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros. No Copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
(#) footnotes
/ denotes telepathic communication/
[ playback of a recording or TV Commentary]For reference purposes the following will hold true throughout.
Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 - Canon Lois and Clark universe also called – Prime
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 – Canon Alt Clark universe also called – Alt 1
Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190 New universe called Alt 2
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Clark and Lois – Hope Realized - The Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 5
Previously:
An hour later while Martha and Lois were drinking a cup of coffee and chatting in the kitchen they heard Jonathan call and they immediately set the cups down and moved into the living room to see Clark sitting up on the sofa.
Lois sat down next to him and snuggled in close. He put his arm around her shoulder and she grabbed his hand and she intertwined her fingers with his. She said, “You gave us a little bit of a scare there.”
He said, “I’m sorry I worried you. This wasn’t my first exposure to Kryptonite. I’ll have to tell you about that experience some time. *A* Lois, the Lois from Prime, was the one that rescued me from it. I should be just fine in a little while. You know what would be the most help? It would really help if you could fly me where I could get some sunlight.”
Lois thought for a few seconds and then said, “It should still be a few hours before sunset in Hawaii. We could lie out on the beach, together.”
With a grin on his face Clark said, “Hmmmm, lying out on a beach with Lois in a bikini. I’m not about to turn that offer down. Let’s go.”
Martha and Jonathan were both laughing as they had observed this by-play.
Martha said, “You kids, run along and have some fun. We won’t wait up.”
Lois went upstairs and picked out towels and suits for each of them that they kept there so that they could go to Smallville Lake on the spur of the moment and came back downstairs. Lois put the towels and suits in a daypack which Clark picked up and held. Lois spun into her uniform and Clark, more slowly, changed into his uniform and they left via the front door. They landed in a secluded area just off Waikiki beach and put on civilian clothes over their uniforms. Then they went into a fast food franchise and got a sandwich and drinks and then used a rest room to change into their swim wear and cover-ups. After admiring the statue of Duke Kahanamoku, they walked down to the water’s edge, hand in hand, and laid out on their towels. After putting out their towels they sat down in the sun and ate their sandwiches. When he had finished his sandwich Clark laid down.
Lois noted that after just a few minutes Clark was asleep again and she rolled over on her side so that she could look at him while he slept. The look of adoration on her face and in her eyes were evident to all who passed by, even those guys that looked very admiringly at her, taking in her striking figure and beautiful long legs and the looks of jealousy from the other women that didn’t quite measure up to her standard.
After a couple of hours Clark woke up. He saw Lois looking at him and said, “Hi. How long have I been asleep?”
Her reply surprised him, “Long enough for me to get horny laying here looking at your nearly naked body. How are you feeling?”
“I feel pretty good. Let me check.” He started to listen and he heard her heartbeat, loud and clear. It was a little accelerated so he said, “Well, I can tell just how true your last statement was. Pulse and respiration elevated, pupils dilated. Definite signs.”
He rolled over on his side, facing her. As she watched he gave her a very intense appraisal. The growing bulge in his swim trunks told her that he was feeling better.
In a sultry tone he said, “Let’s go for a dip.”
He stood up and, reaching for her hand, helped her to stand. They ran down the beach, hand-in-hand and dove into the surf. They swam out beyond where the surf was starting to break and simply floated for a time. Suddenly, while her back was turned, Clark sank below the surface and a few seconds later Lois yelped and disappeared below the surface too. Clark had grabbed her foot and pulled her down. As soon as she was underwater he pulled her in and initiated a kiss. Her body melded to his and as her lower body came into contact with his she felt very relieved. He was getting back to normal.
After they resurfaced they played in the surf for a while and then they returned to their towels. The sun was going down and people were leaving the beach.
When she felt that a sufficient number had left so that they had a modicum of privacy Lois threw herself on top of him and started kissing him. The body contact and the kiss were turning both of them on, so Clark broke the kiss and said, “Let’s get out of here. I think I can fly again. Shall we stop in Smallville or go all the way back to Metropolis?”
“I don’t think I can wait until we can get all the way to Metropolis, let’s stop in Smallville.”
He stood up and they picked up their towels. They restrained themselves, with difficulty, until they were in a secluded area off the beach. In a secret compartment of the daypack their uniforms, all but the boots were stored. Previously, because of what a Superman in another universe had done, Clark had asked Martha to sew Suit material into boot like socks. They looked like boots but didn’t take up nearly as much space. With them on the uniforms at least looked complete. As soon as they were in uniform they took off and headed east.
When they got to Smallville, Clark saw that the lights were out in the farm house. As they were landing he led the way into the barn. Lois giggled and said, “I’ve never had a literal ‘roll in the hay’ before. This is gonna be fun!” He silenced her by initiating another kiss as he floated them up to the loft.
After a while they moved to the house and Lois went to Clark’s bedroom while Clark slept on the sofa.
In the morning, Martha came downstairs and wasn’t surprised to see Clark on the sofa. She went into the kitchen and started breakfast.
Clark awoke to the aroma of coffee brewing and he sat up. A couple of minutes later Lois came downstairs and sat next to him on the sofa, snuggling up to Clark.
Martha came out of the kitchen with a couple of mugs of coffee in hand. She set them down on the coffee table and started chuckling. Turning to Clark she asked, “Why do you insist on sleeping on the sofa?”
Clark was speechless. He had not expected to have to answer this question.
Martha continued, “You know, we aren’t naïve. You two might as well be sleeping comfortably together.”
Clark started to stutter an excuse but was stopped by Martha. Still chuckling, she reached over and pulled a piece of hay out of Lois’ hair. “It’s obvious that the two of you can’t keep your hands of each other and it’s normal. You’re getting married in less than a week. We understand.”
Jonathan hit the bottom step as Martha was plucking the hay out of Lois’ hair and he burst out in laughter. He asked, “You two didn’t scare the cows did you? I guess I’ll find out if I they don’t give any milk.” He started laughing even harder while Lois and Clark both blushed bright red. Still laughing, Jonathan continued, “I agree with Martha, you’re getting married in less than a week. We know how it is. When you’re here you might as well be comfortable and sleep in the same bed. Besides, that way Martha won’t disturb you when she comes down to start breakfast.”
This lively banter had all been brought about by their relief that Clark was indeed back to normal, or more precisely, what passed as normal for him. Martha asked, “Who wants breakfast?”
Lois and Clark looked at each other and simultaneously said, “We do!” and broke down in laughter.
And now:
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Chapter 11 – The Hero of 9th & Siegel
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Universal Locator Designation
Common name – ALT2
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After breakfast, Lois and Clark dressed and flew back to Metropolis, landing in an alley near the twelfth precinct. They spun into their business clothes and entered the precinct.
As soon as they walked in and Sgt. Tartaglia saw them, he stood up and started to clap. When he did the other officers that happened to be in the office looked around and as soon as they spotted Clark they too began to clap.
Clark was embarrassed by all of this attention, but the applause continued until he actually took a bow. Then the patrolmen that had been clapping all came over and clapped him on the back congratulating him on subduing his attackers.
Finally Sgt. Tartaglia sat down and dialed Lt. Henderson. When he set the phone down he said, “Lt. Henderson will see the hero of 9th and Siegel. Third door on the left.” As he finished speaking he started chuckling at Clark’s embarrassment.
They moved down the hall and knocked on Henderson’s door. They heard, “Come in!” Opening the door they entered and sat in the chairs in front of his desk.
Bill stood up and handed Clark a piece of paper and asked, “Can I have your autograph?”
Clark, exasperated said, “Not you too.”
Bill looked at him with just a hint of amusement and said, “That’s the statement you gave to the patrolman last night. I need you to sign it.”
Clark, taken aback and somewhat embarrassed, said, “Oh, right, yeah, my statement. Sorry, I thought …”
Bill started to chuckle, “I know what you thought! We all have heard the story. Truth to tell, we’re all proud of you. There aren’t very many men that could take on three or four thugs and not only walk away from the encounter but capture three of them in the bargain. All of that while knowing that neither Superman nor Superwoman could possibly help out because of the Kryptonite.” Bill dropped the bantering tone and became serious as he continued, “This looks more like a contract hit than a mugging to me. You did say that the leader called you by name didn’t you?”
“Yeah, it sure looks like Luthor is serious about getting me out of the way. The word we have is that he wants Lois and he has decided that he has to go through me to get to her.”
“I interviewed the thugs that attacked you. The only one that knew someone other than the leader, you know, the one with the gun, was the leader himself. He didn’t even have a name, just a description, Englishman, stocky with a Vandyke beard.”
Lois spoke up, “An individual fitting that description works for Lex Luthor. I met him when I went there to interview Luthor.”
“It would make sense if Luthor was behind it. That’s the only way the presence of the Kryptonite can be explained. By the way, what happened to the Kryptonite?”
Clark reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of lead foil and displayed it to Bill, “I’ve started carrying around some lead foil, just in case. After subduing the ‘muggers’ I wrapped the Kryptonite up in a piece of lead foil and gave it to Superwoman. She threw it into space.”
“Do you have a name for the Englishman?”
Lois replied, “Nigel St. John.”
Bill wrote the name down and then said, “I don’t know if that’s enough to pull him in for questioning.”
Clark said, “It might be worth it, if only to get a picture to show to the thug to get an ID.”
Lois spoke up, “Bill, if you don’t mind, we are going to lay low until the wedding. We don’t want to take any more chances.”
Bill replied, “I have your cell numbers if I need to get hold of you. Stay safe, I’m looking forward to seein’ you two get hitched on Saturday.”
They thanked Bill and left. Next stop was the Planet. As they stepped out of the elevator they spotted Perry out in the bullpen. Lois nodded her head in the direction of his office. Perry nodded his acknowledgement and they all headed in that direction. Once they were in the office and the doors closed, Lois wasted no time in addressing the issue. She said, “Chief, I guess you heard about last night.”
Perry replied, “Yeah, I did. Frankly, I’m surprised to see you’all in here. Since you are here, Lois, I want your eye witness story of the brawl. E-mail it to me. I may not print it, but, I want to read about it all the same. Way to go Clark.”
Lois spoke up again, “As soon as we are settled I’ll do that. We decided that we needed to come in and let you know what was happening. Luthor is fixated on me. For whatever reason he has decided that he wants me and if he has to have Clark eliminated to get to me then that is what he is going to do. This ‘mugging’ last night was really a contract hit. Fortunately, Clark knows Tae Kwan Do and was able to defend himself. Also fortunately, Superwoman happened by and dealt with the gun one of the thugs pulled. The wedding is Saturday and we are going into hiding until then. We’ll meet you at the church.”
“Okay, Darlin’, whatever you say. I’ll let Jimmy know.”
This time Clark spoke up, “Actually, we’ll talk to Jimmy. He’s doing some research for us and I want to see how that’s going. As soon as we’ve talked to him we’ll be leaving.”
“Okay Clark, we’ll be seeing the two of you on Saturday then.”
“See you then, Chief.”
They left his office and headed for Jimmy’s desk. When they got there Lois said, “Okay, Jimmy. What do you have for us?”
“Well, I’ve got a lot of the records you asked for, but there’s a whole lot more out there. Here’s what I have so far.” He handed Clark a large stack of printouts. “It’ll be up to you to try to decipher it all. I can’t make heads or tails of it all.”
As Clark took the data Lois said, “We are going to disappear for a few days. We’ll see you at the church.”
Jimmy said, “I can understand, especially after what happened last night. We all heard about it.”
With a smile on her face she said, “You’ll read about it in tomorrow’s edition. I can’t wait to type it up.”
They each did one final check of their e-mail before leaving. They each had an e-mail from Bobby setting up a meet for that evening. Lois put the printouts in her bag and they left.
They arrived at the rendezvous each bearing a bag. Clark had the main course and Lois had the sides, beverage and desert.
A few minutes later Bobby showed up. He got right to the point, “Okay here’s the scoop. There’s going to be a shipment of gold bullion. It’s coming in to the port, transferred to a truck and then moved to the Philadelphia mint. A gang plans to hijack the shipment in route. You might want to let big blue and his main squeeze know that the shipment will be traveling along State Route 125 out of Metropolis on Tuesday around noon. The bullion is coming in to the port of Metropolis that morning by container ship. Oh, and by the way, congrats on the nuptials this coming Saturday. You make a handsome couple.”
As they handed over his dinner, Lois said, “Thanks Bobby. Would you like to attend?”
He replied, “I’d love to but, I gotta work. I bet the reception will be a gas though. Shame I gotta miss it.”
After Bobby had left they headed back to the apartment. When they arrived they only stayed long enough to pack some clothes and take off for Smallville.
Once at the farm they took their bags up to Clark’s room and settled in before they did their planning. Clark started it off, “This should work out well. We are getting married on Saturday and we are leaving on our honeymoon. We can make sure we are seen in Hawaii on our honeymoon while Superwoman and Superman are preventing the shipment from being hijacked.”
Lois, with a very pensive expression said, “I just had a thought. What if they have Kryptonite like the last time? Maybe we shouldn’t be too close together. That way if one of us is hit with it, the other can do a rescue.”
“That’s an excellent point. We probably should practice that kind of caution whenever we are working on something together. I think that in a natural disaster we should be okay being close. It’ll just be when we have to deal with the criminal element that we’ll need to exercise that kind of caution. We wouldn’t want to both be caught in the same trap.”
Lois pulled out the printouts that Jimmy had provided and they started going through the information. Since they were both super they sped through the data in record time.
They both went through all of the data separately and then compared notes.
They found a number of divisions of LexCorp which had very cryptic names with money moving back and forth so many times that the trail became fuzzy.
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Saturday
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It was a lovely, although small wedding. Perry gave away the bride and then sat down with Alice, Lucy was Lois’ Maid of Honor and Denise from Research was a bridesmaid. Jimmy was best man and Frank from Travel was a groom’s man.
Lois and Clark had brought Jonathan and Martha with them when they had returned to Metropolis. Lois’ mother was there to help her with the gown. The reason Perry was there to give her away was the fact that Lois’ father had been an Army Medical Corps doctor, rank of Colonel, in Viet Nam and had been killed a short time after Lucy was born.
Clark had told Lois that he wanted to go to Brazzaville and see Jean Luc Artois to purchase the wedding bands, but, with all that had been happening even they hadn’t been able to do that for all their superpowers. So the rings that they exchanged were simple gold bands. When it was time for the kiss, they both had to concentrate to make sure that they didn’t float.
Later in the evening the bride and groom left for their honeymoon. They had told everyone that they were going to Hawaii. They didn’t actually leave until the next day. They flew Jonathan and Martha home first and took their luggage with them. After spending a night in Smallville they flew to Hawaii and checked in to their hotel.
On Tuesday, before sunup in Hawaii, they flew back to Metropolis and picked up the shipment when it arrived in port.
They hovered together so high that they were within the cloud cover. It was supposed to be raining all day in the Metropolis area and they used the cloud cover to their advantage. With their enhanced vision the clouds were not a problem.
They watched as the bullion was off loaded. They saw the precautions that were being taken, armed guards, armored vehicle, and security convoy. When they moved out, Superman and Superwoman followed, hovering directly above it.
When the truck reached a remote stretch of SR125 they saw that the road was blocked by an overturned semi trailer. Their suspicions were immediately raised. The next thing that happened cinched it. From a dirt road on the side a truck pulled out behind the bullion vehicle, preventing it from backing out of the trap. They examined the immediate vicinity and saw an ambush had been set up with armed thugs scattered along the roadside. Clark pulled Lois to him and said, “I see at least one box that I can’t see through. It must be lead lined and probably contains Kryptonite. Here’s what I have in mind …”
They watched as the ambush was sprung. The thugs came out of their concealed locations on the side of the road and several exited the truck that had blocked the road behind. Superman swooped down and started to remove the weapons from the attackers. One of them standing toward the back pulled out a lead box. He said, “Stop right there Superman. If you don’t it’ll be just too bad for you. Know what this is?”
“Yes, I see that you have a lead box. Is that supposed to frighten me?”
“Maybe not the box, but what’s in it you should.” He started to reach to open the box.
Suddenly he screamed and dropped the box as it turned red hot and started to melt. When it did it completely enclosed the chunk of Kryptonite in the soft flowing metal. As quickly as it had started to glow red, when Superman stepped over to it and blew on it with his super cold breath, it solidified and started to form frost on the outside.
Superwoman made her appearance and helped to finish disarming the thugs while Superman removed the overturned semi trailer. She turned the thugs over to the guard detachment for detention.
The commander of the security detachment came up to Superman just as Superwoman joined him and said, “I don’t know how to thank the two of you. Do you know who they are?”
“We believe that they are members of a gang that was hired for this job. The plan was to hijack the bullion, melt it down, recast it and resell it.”
“Well, thanks to you two, that won’t be happening.”
“Commander …”
He was interrupted at this point, “I’m detective Lieutenant James.”
“Well, Lt. James, if you don’t mind terribly we will take that”, Superman pointed to the lead blob which encased the Kryptonite, “and dispose of it. I don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands again.”
Lt. James said, “Be my guest. I have no need of it.”
“Thank you, sir. We’ll be going now.” Superman picked up the lead blob and he and Superwoman took off. When they had traveled a short distance he projected a thought, /I’m going to go up into the ionosphere and launch this out of the system. Be back in a second./
She thought back, /I’ll go with you. I want to watch as you flex those muscles of yours./
When he looked at her he could see her wicked little grin and smiled in return and thought, /We can flex some muscles together when we get back to Hawaii./
As he watched he saw the color climb up her neck and into her cheeks and saw her breathing become a little ragged.
The thought she sent back to him carried along with it a lot of side channel emotions, prominent among them were desire and joy and it hit him with an almost physical impact, /I’m looking forward to just that … husband mine./
They spent a week in Hawaii for their honeymoon.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
They were working on the Luthor case off and on over the next couple of weeks. Slowly the financials were starting to make sense. They didn’t have enough as yet, but Jimmy was still working his magic. They hoped it wouldn’t be too much longer.
A few days later Clark’s phone at the Planet started ringing. Picking it up he said, “Daily Planet, Clark Kent.”
Recognizing the voice on the other end he got a grin on his face, “Hi Kent, Bobby here. Got some information for you. You know that specialty pizza place, Elizabeth’s. Bring two deluxe pizzas on whole wheat crust to our previous meeting place, 6:30 this evening.”
As Clark hung-up the phone he turned to Lois and said, “That was Bobby. We are meeting him tonight and we have to bring two deluxe pizzas from Elizabeth’s on whole wheat crusts.”
Lois laughed and said, “He must be on a health food kick!”
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They were waiting on the bench when Bobby showed up. Sliding onto the bench next to Clark, he said, “I see you brought the pizzas. Okay, here’s the story. There is going to be a new string of fires in the Hobbs Bay area. Luthor wants to build a marina. Like I said, from what I hear they’ve hired some hi-tech firebugs to do the job. These guys can start fires without the use of accelerants so the fact that it is arson can’t be proved. They call themselves the Toasters. You might want to let big blue know what’s going down. Here’s the new info. Luthor is using an intermediary, the Metros. Big blue is going to have to stop the Toasters and get them to rat on the Metros and then work up the chain, that is if they will be willing to talk. They might be too afraid of him to talk.” Clark picked up the pizzas and handed them to Bobby. Bobby said, “Thanks. Oh, by the way, you make a lovely couple. Congratulations.”
Lois said, “Thanks Bobby. We *are* happy.”
Bobby whistled as he walked away.
Once they were home, it was Clark’s turn to make dinner. He asked Lois to go into the living room and watch some TV while he worked because he wanted to surprise her.
When he finished cooking he took a couple of seconds to set the table, even putting up a couple of candles. Since he was about to serve the dinner he called her over and pulled out her chair for her as she sat. He lit the candles with two quick bursts of heat vision and then went into the kitchen to get the meal.
He had prepared a linguini with red sauce and meatballs with sides of peas and carrots. He opened a bottle of Chianti and poured two glasses. He lifted his glass in a toast, “Happy Anniversary. We’ve been married a full month today.”
She gave a shy giggle and clinked her glass to his before taking a sip. They both enjoyed the meal and as they were finishing up Clark said, “Leave room for desert.”
With an arched eyebrow she said, “What would that be, pray tell?”
He replied with a wicked grin, “It’s a surprise.” He disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared with a plate of cannoli.
Lois laughed hysterically and said, “After what Bill told us?”
Clark replied, “Well, you seemed to really enjoy them and they’re Italian so I figured that they’d go well with the pasta.”
Lois replied, “I did enjoy them, but, what about that fertility symbol thing?”
“Well, that’s just an old wives’ tale. You can’t put any stock in it.” After a minute he continued, “You know, tomorrow I have to meet Herb at the Alamo in San Antonio. I really want you there. What do you think about Mom and Dad?” He couldn’t get over how easily he had said that. In the time he had been here he had really come to think of them in those terms.
Lois suggested, “Why don’t we do this, I’ll fly to Smallville and when Herb shows up you bring him there.”
“Okay, that should work. I really think that we should all participate in this decision.” Lois moved over and sat in his lap and, bringing her arms up and around his neck, moved in for a kiss.
When she broke from the kiss she said, “No matter what he says, you’re mine and I’m not letting you go.”
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about. Herb was the one that suggested these missions.”
With an arched eyebrow and a wicked little grin she said, “Let’s clean up so that we can have the real desert. Let’s see if there’s any validity to that old wives’ tale.”
He was stunned, “You mean that you’re willing to have children?”
In reply she picked up another one of the cannoli and sticking out her tongue licked some of the filling out of the end and keeping it on the end of her tongue slowly brought it into her mouth and sucked it in closing her eyes in rapturous delight as she did so. Then opening her eyes she opened her lips wide and stuck the end of the cannolo in her mouth and sucked on it.
Mesmerized by her and watching this display Clark started breathing deeply and he started sweating.
She finished the cannolo and looking at him said, “After that meal and that delicious desert, what can I say? With you, I’m willing. Let’s go, big boy.”
It took them all of five seconds to clean up and move to the bedroom.
comments go here To be continued in Chapter 12 – Herb Shows Up
